Human.Kind is hosting its first Queer Community Day Retreat, as an opportunity for attendees to socialise, meditate and create strong connections within the queer community.

Operations manager at Human.Kind studios, Ben Gardner, wanted to create a regular yoga class that was dedicated specifically to queer people.

Ben says there are “not enough of these spaces”, and although there are many queer/ally friendly hang outs in Adelaide, he thought it was important to create a time for queer only people to connect.

“We fully appreciate that for a number of reasons: if you’re a trans person who’s in the middle of taking physical transitions, people who are feeling comfortable to maybe be shirtless, or whatever it might be, can sometimes be quite confronting,” Ben says.

“I think having a dedicated space where you can be particularly attuned and sensitive to different considerations, because the queer community is diverse, so having a targeted space, you can be really quite aware of all the humans in that room.”

Ben at Human.Kind

This dedicated yoga class takes place at Human.Kind studios on the first Friday of every month.

“So people who identify as being queer, or are maybe in the early stages of exploring that part of themselves and not sure if they identify that way yet, just to create a really safe space that you can feel free to slowly share [and] get to know one another… there aren’t a lot of spaces that offer that in Adelaide,” Ben says.

“There’s a bunch of people who are coming along to these sessions who are exploring their sexuality for the first time… and so it’s for them to be able to gauge for themselves where they might fit in.

“I think doing that in a dedicated space that’s very free from judgment or the potential of running into someone that they maybe aren’t ready to run into just yet.”

Although this community session is dedicated to the art of yoga, Ben says the most rewarding part is seeing the “beautiful, natural friendships being formed”.

“I think we’ve kind of looked at a whole wide range of different traditional teachings and ideas,” Ben says.

“They’re not all light and airy and positive — some of them can be quite exposing and vulnerable and confronting.

“I think just the space that everyone’s created together, it really truly feels like a community class where everyone feels really supported to share what they feel comfortable sharing.”

On 28 October, Human.Kind is hosting a Queer Community Day Retreat. This, Ben says, is Human.Kind’s way of combatting the consistently booked out class, and to further bond friendships within their core dedicated yogis.

“We thought that it would be nice to create an environment where we can have a longer format, so a full day, rather than the 90 minutes that we have once a month, currently,” Ben says.

“We can get out of the studio, we can get up into nature, there’s so much research into the benefit of being in nature for general wellness, that we could go up and spend a day on this beautiful property up in Basket Range.”

The retreat will consist of activities like meditation, pottery making and yoga practises. The night will conclude with a bonfire and drinks, before participants are escorted back into the city, just in time for Pride March Adelaide.

“Overall, just this complete day of, yoga, pottery, food, wine and hanging out,” Ben says.

Much like the monthly queer yoga classes, Ben says it’s “first and foremost, a social retreat”.

“[We will] really highlight and make space for on this day time to chat, get to know each other, be social, be less structured,” Ben says.

“I really want this to feel spacious and light touch and comfortable for people.”

While this experience focusses on queer people as the attendees, Ben thought it would be an opportunity to also highlight queer people “killing it in their respective fields”.

“When I knew that we were going to be running a day retreat, I thought, wouldn’t it be special to have every element of the day run by queer people, for queer people?” Ben says.

“My specialty area is yoga, but why not work with people that I know or have heard about who are really excelling in their respective areas, and see if they can contribute to the day as well — that’s the element of collaboration I really wanted to bring in.”

Human.Kind’s Queer Community Day Retreat will take place on 28 October and tickets can be purchased through the website.

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